Blue Thunder
Blue Thunder is a monster truck owned by Monster Jam/Feld Motorsports. It is a Ford F-150 driven by Matt Cody in the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series presented by AMSOIL Central. History Blue Thunder debuted on January 6th, 2001, at the Houston Astrodome, originally as a Ford F-250. It was driven by former Grave Digger driver, Lyle Hancock, who drove Wrenchead.com the previous year. He made it to the World Finals Championship Race in Monster Jam World Finals 2, making him the first Grave Digger driver to make it to the finals. But because Blue Thunder flipped over at the end of the final race with Goldberg, it couldn't return for freestyle. A year later in January 2002, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI (the first stop), Tony Farrell drove the truck and competed there. He had an awesome freestyle run but ended with a spectacular crash. After the end of the 2003 season, Lyle Hancock retired and Tony Farrell, the previous driver of Wild Thang, and George Balhan, who had come from driving Spider-Man, drove the monster truck. In 2005, Norm Miller (previously a driver of Black Smith) became the team's second driver when Balhan left the team to drive the Escalade monster truck. In 2008, former Iron Outlaw driver Linsey Weenk joined the team, making him and his former boss, Jimmy Creten, rivals. Frank Krmel, who drove Blue Thunder at Monsters on Mainstreet at Houston Motorsports Park in 2008, joined the team in the summer of 2009. In 2010, Krmel drove Blue Thunder during the World Finals 11 encore. In 2011, Ford had officially ended their Built Ford Tough sponsorship contract with Monster Jam, so the truck continued to run with all Ford references on the truck removed: The Build Ford Tough logo on the hood was replaced with the words "Blue Thunder" as they were seen on the side. That same year, Linsey Weenk and Frank Krmel left the Blue Thunder team, so Todd LeDuc drove Blue Thunder for the rest of 2011 while Weenk ran his new truck Lucas Oil Crusader. In 2012, LeDuc began driving the new Metal Mulisha, and the Blue Thunder name was discontinued. In 2013, Blue Thunder was resurrected, with Dan Evans driving the truck until 2014. In 2014, it was announced that Dalton Millican would be taking over the driving duties and run on the #MoreMonsterJam tour for the 2015 season. In 2015, two Blue Thunder drivers, former driver Tony Farrell and driver Dalton Millican tragically pass away; Farrell from an SUV accident at a concert and Millican from a motorcycle accident. After Millican's death, Alx Danielsson drives the truck during one event as a fill-in driver. Also, less than a six months before his death, Millican and Blue Thunder were invited to the Monster Jam World Finals 16 Young Guns Shootout, although did not win. In 2016, Tyler Menninga drove Blue Thunder in the West More Monster Jam tour and competed in the Monster Jam World Finals 17 Young Guns Shootout and finished second. In 2017, Matt Cody runs the Blue Thunder body on the Iron Warrior chassis for the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series presented by AMSOIL Central tour. Blue Thunder competed in Saudi Arabia with driver Randy Brown. Trivia * This truck, despite having the same name and color and a very similar design, has no relation to Kevin and Kirk Dabney's Camaro Blue Thunder truck, which competed in the 1980s. However, it is speculated that this Blue Thunder was derived in some way from that of the Dabneys' version. * Although the truck started out in 2001 as a sponsorship truck for Ford, the truck is no longer a sponsor truck today. Ford had ended their sponsorship contract in early 2011 and the truck continued running as a stand-alone truck until its retirement before Monster Jam World Finals 12 and its revival in 2012 and 2013, respectively. * Although Todd LeDuc is the full-time driver for Monster Energy, he is also a part-time driver for Blue Thunder for overseas events. Leduc was a full time driver in Blue Thunder before driving Metal Mulisha. Gallery 20160318 153410.jpg|Blue Thunder's 2016 pattern 15873338_10154580326760073_4746762916445333390_n.jpg|Matt Cody's Blue Thunder in 2017, on Iron Warrior Monster-Jam-18-1.jpg|On Metal Mulisha Monster-Jam-2015-1.jpg|In 2015 Bluethundermmj.jpg|Blue Thunder for #MoreMonsterJam b0247945-65c7-4b2a-8edf-2b22bde7563c.jpg|Blue Thunder on The Patriot's chassis. btwf.jpg|Blue Thunder on a Racesource Chassis in 2013 bed4bb47-1d96-4407-a199-6d164bddc6d6.jpg|Blue Thunder's design for it's re-debut in 2013 bluethundertruck.jpg|Blue Thunder's original render for it's re-debut in 2013 Bluethunder2010.jpg|Blue Thunder circa 2010 Bluethunder2011.jpg|Blue Thunder without the Ford sponsorship 2011 BT2006.jpg|Blue Thunder circa 2006 F158e692-8b45-46c1-9d62-04314e6aca73.jpg|George Balhan's Blue Thunder Sema03monster.jpg|2001-2003 15875393 10158056933470451 3715462486255660529 o.jpg BT2002.jpg|Blue Thunder circa 2002 Bluethunder 02.jpg|Blue Thunder at World Finals 2 bluethunder_speedster(1).jpg|Blue Thunder Speedster in #MoreMonsterJam events. MJAT_cards_BlueThunder(1).jpg Bluethunder atv(1).jpg|Blue Thunder ATV for #MoreMonsterJam TF-14-Bridge-Direct-Kastors-Korner35.jpg|Cancelled Blue Thunder C3 Construction Monster Jam building set toy. bluethunderrender.jpg|Blue Thunder's Digital Truck Render in Monster Jam: Path of Destruction. 2010 SE-MD Blue Thunder (3).jpg|2009 Ford F-150 from the 2010 Hot Wheels Monster Duo 2-Pack Bluethunderpickup.jpg|Ford F-150's decorated to resemble Blue Thunder Blue_thunder_old.jpg|Blue Thunder 1:64 scale toy Blue_thunder_old_2.jpg|Blue Thunder 1:24 scale toy Blue_thunder_new.jpg|new 1:24 scale toy CeylAcdXEAUB7J2.jpg|2016 Color Treads Blue Thunder 2015_164_bluethunder.jpg 2015_124_bluethunder.jpg 9670800_orig.jpg Prototype Blue Thunder B0675 9659 (1).jpg|Hot Wheels Blue Thunder toy prototype 2363581494_93ae9b16e6_b.jpg|Blue Thunder before adding the logo NVArt Creatures WFTee.jpg|Blue Thunder Monster Jam Creatures art 14639796_424980544293085_4490571833775358639_n.jpg bluethundertruckinpals.png|Truckin' Pals Cartoon 00019641-2.jpg|Truckin' Pals Wooden toy Category:Trucks Category:FELD Motorsports Category:Rodoni Motorsports Category:Current Competing Trucks Category:Vaters Motorsports Category:Trucks with Ford Bodies